A gold brocaded silk filet
Ich recently could get my hands on some pretty convincing fake gold thread and now I have some projects I had always wanted to do. One of them is a gold brocaded tablet woven filet ribbon which I had been inspired by an extant original by.
The original is slightly different from my creation. It is the tablet woven fragment nr 420 from the London finds from the second half of the 13th century (if you dont have the book yet: Seriously, why??). The original was also 4 mm wide and made from 9 tablets, although in the original, the threads pass to the back side and make a negative pattern there as well, meaning that in its “lifetime” this ribbon was probably not applicated onto anything but meant to be seen from both sides. It also did not have any traces of sewing at its edges, which also makes it unlikely that it had been part of a hairnet. The design from a mono-coloured simple tablet weave with golden medaillon-formed gold circle and square shapes with crosses in the middle on them is stilistically close to belts and garters of the time that were often made from monocoloured silk with gold and silver belt mounts on them. A use as a filet or hair ribbon would therefor be perfect for this piece. If you would like to see some examples of filet ribbons in illuminations, here is my collection on Pinterest.
I made it from indigo-reseda dyed mulberry silk yarn from my favourite supplier Archäotechnik – Textile Fläche. 9 tablets, in alternating S/Z patterns. The brocading is done with gold thread after this scheme that I designed for this purpose if you should be interested to try it.
The edges are not a hundert percent where I would like them to be in terms of quality. It was quite hard to get the gold thread not to hang on the fine silk, so adjusting the edges was quite tricky.
And this is the final piece worn with my pearl and silk hairnet. It shimmers so nicely <3
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